Microsoft's naming math: Vista plus 1 is 7

Microsoft’s official rationale is that “7” is the seventh version of Windows. It gets there by counting up from Windows NT 4.0, skipping Windows 98 and counting both XP and 2000 as No. 5. Vista was No. 6.

Adding to the confusion, Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft’s president of Windows, has a variant explanation, saying that Windows 95 was the fourth version of Windows. But Windows 7 is descended from NT 4.0, not Windows 95.

Coming up with a new “aspirational name” like XP or Vista,

OMG.. windoze try again.... amazing .. Get a MAC!!!

Whatever the name or version number, it's going to be the same old boring story.

Loved the last paragraph - glad I persevered and got to the end. Honestly, who cares what name the dog has?

(Just in case you are not sure of my meaning in British English calling something a dog is not complimentary!!!!)

British English shares something with Korean then. I can see the parallels DeepAir. And I agree with the Dog comment on Windows. Go Mac and if you can't afford that go super cheap with Linux.

We all know the real reason though, Lucky 7. They're hoping for a little more good luck with this system than they had with Vista. It'll probably be called Windows 8 in China, as I believe that is a lucky number there. I'm sure Windows 7 will sell well, but there may be a lot of buyers out there that didn't do well with Vista, and would be wary to buy 7.

Have MS thought about keeping it going with the alphabet? Windows F (Failure) for Vista and Windows GW (GeeWhiz)... How about LOL, OMG or WTF? Numbers have to be sequential to make any sense and names are just too literal (ie. Vista. Thank goodness they didn't call it Windows Sill or Pane (huh?) or something stupid like that!).

Of course it will sell well when it comes bundled with new computers. Not too many choices if you're buying a PC. Only techies will strip the OS of a computer to install Linux or something else (is there anything else for a PC?)

C'mon, give'em a break. Who cares what it is called. It's a marketing thing anyways.

I installed the release candidate a couple months back, things started out better than ever, but soon the system has rotted to the point i have to reformat/reinstall...

They have ironed out a lot of things that used to take a lot of input, such as installing hardware and drivers, but I still haven't seen a single piece of software that says its 100% compatible with Windows 7.

Meh, I've seen windows crash, I've seen macs crash and I've seen a unix user crash. If the biggest beef you have in life is the name of a O/S, then are you really living a fulfilling life? A simple sentence or a paragraph or two like; "Naming Windows 7, Windows 7 was stupid" would have been good enough.

If Windows 7 is returning to a more NT based platform then good for them, NT was probable the closest thing they had to a stable platform. Personally I've always used a dual boot with windows and red hat. I have nothing against Mac's other then I equate them to Starbucks coffee.

XP was my last version of windows, I have played around with Vista on others computers and hated it. It is the devils own! I bought a I Mac and LOVE it! Heard that windows 7 is just more of the same old thing from Micro$oft. Snow Leopard has to be the best :) Micro$oft can not even get the numbers right and calling it #7 will do nothing for them.

I've still got Windows 3.1. Works great!

I'm just wondering how many of you posting "Get a Mac" actually got one recently since that's the "in" thing to do nowadays, or have been Mac advocates (pardon the pun, those in the know) for awhile.

<- Mac user since the Mac Plus.

Hmm, it deleted my "Mac user since the Mac Plus" line.